Give Them a Megaphone
Sweet Land of Liberty? In a country proclaiming freedom of speech as its preeminent 1st Amendment constitutional right, we now seek to silence voices instead of protecting them. College students protest to cancel speakers with “incorrect” viewpoints. A counter-protest is an opposing speech. A cancel protest is a suppression of speech that is worse than […]
Sticks & Stones…
…may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Do they teach children this lesson anymore, or has it gone the way of multiplication tables? Of course, it is much easier to widely broadcast words today than when the author penned them in the mid-1800s. We are no longer limited to whispering gossip into […]
Another Revolution Complete
I made it through another trip around the sun. Yes, I am approaching (not there) that age when I am not excited about adding a digit, but I am glad to make it another year – not everyone did. Reality Setting In Just when the dad bod was coming into style and finding many devotees, […]
Not Everything of Value is Worth Doing
The Distinction Warren Buffet says, “The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say ‘no’ to almost everything.” They realize every activity carries an opportunity cost. When we say “yes” to one thing, we necessarily say “no” to another. The issue does not lie in easy choices such as reading […]
Will to Do
We needlessly postpone action while seeking the wise counsel of sages or scrolling the internet to pursue knowledge we think is a prerequisite. In most cases, the answer is already within us or unnecessary. A lack of will, not knowledge, often inhibits our next right action. Need to Know? Consider all of the wellness schemes […]
You Can Be Both
Can Always Do Better This message was instilled in me just a few months into my professional career through a senior partner’s response after I hesitantly suggested a revision to a document he had drafted. Joe Allen said, “I have never seen anything that couldn’t be improved.” These words have remained with me and served […]
Promise Yourself
We know what we must do to accomplish our goals but fail to do them consistently. To make progress, we need commitment and perseverance (i.e., discipline). Promise Any goal undoubtedly requires doing things you would rather not do or abstaining from things you want. Remarkably, we often have a higher commitment to others than ourselves. […]
Keep Your Head Up
How did we get here? Only a few years ago, you had to read a magazine in the waiting room of the doctor’s office or commiserate with fellow patients over your ailments. At the airport, you talked with other travelers about where they had been or were going or daydreamed while watching the planes take […]
Use It or Lose It
While I typically invite you to think rather than tell you what to do, it would be a dereliction of duty to deprive you of my favorite decluttering principle. Rather than agonize over emotional, space, and financial considerations, I recommend a simple use standard. If I have not used it in a year, I free […]
Out with the Unused
Now that you are a faithful sentinel guarding your homestead against an invasion by anything you will not effectively use and removing an existing item for each new one you bring in, you can turn your attention to repurposing the unused objects trespassing in your home. I do not write “dispose of” as that implies […]